The New York Yankees opened their series against the Toronto Blue Jays Monday night with an 8-7, extra-innings loss at Yankee Stadium.
A blown save by Rafael Soriano in the top of the ninth brought the Jays back from a two-run deficit. Derek Jeter came to the rescue in the Yanks' half of the inning, hitting a solo shot to keep their hopes alive. But an error by Derek Lowe in the 11th would prove to be the difference.
There was more bad news on top of the loss, as first baseman Mark Teixeira left the game in the fourth inning with a strained calf. Teixeira hobbled around the bases, scoring on a single by Russell Martin in the fourth. He immediately went down into the clubhouse tunnel after crossing the plate, and did not return. An MRI was scheduled on Monday night.
The Yankees offense hammered Toronto starter Henderson Alvarez early, knocking him out in the fourth inning. Robinson Cano did the early damage, hitting solo shots in both the first and the fourth innings. The two homers resulted in the ninth multi-homer game of his career, and pushed his career total to 170 -- the most of any Yankee second baseman.
After the Cano lead-off homer, Teixeria drew a walk and came around to score on the Martin single (which went off the shin of Alvarez and forced him out). With Aaron Laffey now in the game, the Yanks would add to the lead when Raul Ibanez sent a ground ball to the right side, scoring Eric Chavez from third to make it 4-1.
The Jays cut into the lead in the next frame, however, as Yorvit Torrealba took David Phelps deep for a two-run blast. Nick Swisher answered in the bottom half by taking a Laffey offering over the left-field wall. Derek Jeter drew a walk to lead off the inning, and the two-run homer by Swisher looked like it would be the difference in the game.
But Soriano gave it up in the top of the ninth. Down to their final out, Colby Rasmus stepped into the box and took a 1-0 pitch deep to right to give the Jays their first lead. It was a second-deck, no-doubter that led to Soriano's third blown save of the season. The Yankee captain was there to pick up his closer, however, leading off the bottom of the ninth with a homer to right off Casey Janssen. Jeter went the other way and deposited it into the first row. Things would remain knotted at 7-7 until the 11th inning, when a costly error by Lowe yielded a Toronto run.
Torrealba led off the 11th with a single and was promptly replaced by pinch runner Mike McCoy. Trying to hold McCoy on first, Lowe threw wild over to the bag and allowed him to move to third. Adeiny Hechavarria then sent a dribbler to Jayson Nix at third, forcing him to charge in on the ball. McCoy, who was not looked back to the bag as Nix made the on-the-run throw to first, scampered home to make it 8-7.
The Yankees will now try to even the series on Tuesday night with Phil Hughes on the hill. The Jays will counter with Ricky Romero.
For more on the Yankees, check out Pinstripe Alley.